Israel is threatening legal action against The New York Times over a Nicholas Kristof opinion column alleging widespread sexual abuse of Palestinian detainees by Israeli personnel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said the article was “one of the most hideous and distorted lies ever published against the State of Israel in the modern press.”
“In wrenching interviews, Palestinians have recounted to me a pattern of widespread Israeli sexual violence against men, women and even children,” our columnist Nicholas Kristof writes.https://t.co/Q1DYudXMfc
— New York Times Opinion (@nytopinion) May 11, 2026
“Today I instructed my legal advisers to consider the harshest legal action against The New York Times and Nicholas Kristof,” Netanyahu said.
“They defamed the soldiers of Israel and perpetuated a blood libel about rape, trying to create a false symmetry between the genocidal terrorists of Hamas and Israel’s valiant soldiers,” he added.
“Under my leadership, Israel will not be silent. We will fight these lies in the court of public opinion and in the court of law.”
Today I instructed my legal advisers to consider the harshest legal action against The New York Times and Nicholas Kristof.
They defamed the soldiers of Israel and perpetuated a blood libel about rape, trying to create a false symmetry between the genocidal terrorists of Hamas…
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) May 14, 2026
Kristof’s column alleged “a pattern of widespread Israeli sexual violence against men, women, and even children” involving prison guards, soldiers, Shin Bet interrogators, and settlers.
The Israel Prison Service rejected the claims, calling them “false and entirely unfounded, while the country’s foreign ministry described it as “one of the worst blood libels in modern media.”
Israeli officials also criticized the sources cited in the piece, including the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor and the Red Cross.
Israel has argued the article ignored evidence it says shows Hamas carried out systematic sexual violence during the October 7 attacks.
The New York Times and Kristof have defended the column, insisting it was a well-sourced piece of journalism:
[Kristof] draws together on-the-record accounts and cites several analyses documenting the practice of sexual violence and abuse conducted by various parts of Israel’s security forces and settlers.
The accounts of the 14 men and women he interviewed were corroborated with other witnesses, whenever possible, and with people the victims confided in — that includes family members and lawyers.
Details were extensively fact-checked, with accounts further cross-referenced with news reporting, independent research from human-rights groups, surveys and in one case, with U.N. testimony. Independent experts were consulted on the assertions in the piece throughout reporting and fact-checking.”
— NYTimes Communications (@NYTimesPR) May 13, 2026
It is unclear how much the state of Israel would be seeking in damages.
Ben Kew is a writer and editor. Originally from the UK, he moved to the U.S. to cover Congress for Breitbart News and has since gone on to editorial roles at Human Events, Townhall Media, and Americano Media. He has also written for The Epoch Times, The Western Journal, and The Spectator.
You can email Ben Kew here, and read more of Ben Kew’s articles here.
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